VHS Crochet Art Piece Was Vandalized

More than one dozen volunteers came together to help crochet artist Adrian Kershaw complete a huge installation art piece made of VHS tape. That piece had to be taken down after it was vandalized.

Kershaw’s piece was hung outside the Modern Hotel in Boise, where the artist lives, as part of an exhibit called Modern Art 2012. Kershaw is known for her crochet work using recycled VHS tape (which I’ve shown in more depth here). This piece was a large piece, over six feet by thirty feet. It required about 500 hours of crochet work by more than two dozen people including the artist.

The piece was a wall hanging. An employee of the hotel noticed that there were some burns on the piece. Kershaw was notified and decided to come take down the piece. By the time that she got there the following day, the piece had been burned again.

A volunteer who worked on the piece says that there is no way that the burns were an accident. They were more extensive than just a cigarette burn and look to be an intentional act of vandalism. Kershaw agrees and has filed a police report.

Sadly, this is not the first act of vandalism I’ve heard of regarding a crochet piece. In December crochet artist Olek had a piece vandalized in Poland. That work was also burned although Olek recommended going easy on the vandals.